1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connector contact for electrically interconnecting electronic components, and more particularly to a low-profile, dual-beam female electrical connector contact which requires minimal space and provides maximum mating contact force upon mating with a male connector contact.
2. Description of Related Art
In almost every electronic and electrical context it is necessary to electrically interconnect electronic components. A very wide variety of electrical connectors have been designed for this purpose. In many of these designs, the connector assembly consists of a male connector and a female connector. In such designs, the male connector includes an insulating housing that secures a plurality of pins in place and the female connector includes an insulating housing which secures female connector contacts in alignment with corresponding pins of the male connector. Each female connector contact is formed from an electrically conductive material, such as copper. Such contacts are often stamped from a sheet of conductive material and folded to accept a male pin.
It is necessary for such female contacts to provide a secure mechanical contact with a male pin which is mated to the female contact. For this purpose, some contacts are fashioned with cantilevered contact beams that flex outward as the male pin is mated with the contact. The spring tension of the contact beam provides a mechanical force against the pin needed to create an electrical contact between the pin and the contact.
An example of a female connector contact having contact beams to provide a mechanical force against a mating pin is U.S. Pat. No. 2,734,179 issued to R. S. Levenson. Levenson discloses a Connection Block for an Electromagnetic Polar Relay in which a female contact 53 has three spring fingers 54, 55, 56 (or contact beams), each of which present a separate contacting surface upon engagement with a mating pin. The fingers flex outward as the mating pin engages the contacting surface of each finger. A cutout 62 locks the contact into a housing 39.
Another example of a female connector contact having contact beams to provide a mechanical force against a mating pin is U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/677,778 of McClune, assigned to Elco Corporation. FIG. 1 illustrates the McClune contact. The McClune contact has two distinct regions defined as a retention region 109, and a mating region 110. These two regions of the contact are separated by slots 111, 112 which permit outward flexing of contact beams 101, 103 when a pin 113 is inserted into the contact. FIG. 2a and 2b illustrate this flexing motion.
As the need to reduce the size of electronic components has increased, so has the need to reduce the size of the connector assemblies. A limiting factor in the construction of miniature connector assemblies has been the size of the female contacts. It is also necessary in some applications for a pin to enter a female connector from the bottom of the housing. Contacts such as the Levenson contact require three distinct regions along the length of the contact: a contact beam region, a retention region, and a body region. Therefore the total height of the contact is the sum of the height of the body, the contact beam, and the retention regions. Furthermore, Levenson only permits a pin to enter from the top of a connector. McClune permits a pin to enter from the bottom of the connector but, requires a contact beam region, a retention region, and a body region.
Therefore, it is desirable to create an electrical connector contact in which each component region does not add additional length to the connector contact and which allows a male mating pin to enter from the bottom of the connector. The present invention provides such an electrical connector contact.